Torchwood
by Sophia Lilia
Summary: Lilith fell through the rift from another planet a few months before Gwen Cooper discovered Torchwood. She was employed by Captain Jack Harkness as an alien expert for Torchwood Three. This is her story.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood. I only own Lilith, her planet/species and her story.

Enjoy!

**Torchwood**

**Chapter One**

_The warmth of the two suns was gentle upon her back, a soft breeze blowing through her hair. The breeze jostled the trees behind her, a single dark blue leaf floating down to rest on the pale blue grass next to her feet. She smiled, taking in the scenery. Alyria was a peaceful planet and this field was, to her, the most serene and relaxing place in the world. She often came to this field to relax and have some time to herself; her work as a Guardian could be rather stressful._

_A sudden harsh wind replaced the gentle breeze on her skin and she looked around, startled. Standing up, she used her hand to guard her eyes against the bright golden glow that had suddenly enveloped the field in front of her. Her eyes widened when she realised that the light was getting closer. Quickly turning, she began to run. However, she underestimated the speed at which the light was developing. A tingle spread up her spine and her long red hair blew wildly. She gasped as the light surrounded her, the golden glow almost blinding. And then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone._

_She shivered at the sudden cold air, a gasp escaping her at the feel of the icy rain that had come from nowhere. She opened her eyes and blinked in shock. Gone were the pale blue fields and pale pink sky. Gone were the two suns and the silvery, fluffy clouds. Instead, she found herself at the edge of a pier and staring out at the harsh waters in front of her. Rain whipped around her, soaking her clothes and plastering her hair to her face. Looking up at the dark sky, her mouth dropped open seeing only one moon in the night sky instead of two. Even the stars that she could barely see had moved in the sky._

"_Hello!"_

_She jumped at the loud voice behind her, quickly turning to face the speaker. A man stood a few feet behind her, dark haired with a long coat._

"_It's alright," he said. His accent was strange, nothing like she'd heard before. "I'm not going to hurt you."_

"_Where am I?" she asked him warily._

"_You're in Cardiff."_

"_Where's that?"_

"_Wales."_

"_I don't know where that is either," she told him._

_He smiled slightly. "Where are you from?"_

"_Alyria," she murmured, and he raised an eyebrow in surprise._

"_You're a long way from home," he told her. "Worlds away, in fact."_

"_How did I get here?"_

"_You fell through a rift in time and space."_

"_The light," she realised._

"_I'm sorry, but you can't go home," the man told her._

"_What?"_

"_You can't go home. The rift is uncontrollable and we don't know how it works," he explained. "I'm sorry, you're stuck. We can't send you home."_

"_We?" she asked. "Who are you?"_

_He smirked slightly. "Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?"_

"_My name is Lilith," she said. "Lilith Darrei."_

"_Well, Lilith Darrei, you're going to have to come with me."_

"_Come where?" she asked._

"_Torchwood."_

It had been a four months since Lilith had fallen through the rift. One moment she had been on her home planet of Alyria and the next she was on Earth in a town called Cardiff. She had been found on the edge of the pier by Captain Jack Harkness, leader of Torchwood Three. He had explained to her that she could never go home, but that he and his team would help her adjust to a new life on Earth. He had taken her back to the Hub, Torchwood's base, and introduced her to the rest of his team. Doctor Owen Harper had examined her to ensure that the rift had not caused any damaged during her displacement. During this examination, the doctor had discovered Lilith's mild telepathy during a scan of her brainwaves. Lilith had explained that all of her species were mildly telepathic but that she could not read his mind, only communicate through her thoughts if she was familiar enough with someone and put up her own mental shields so that she could block another from communicating with her in that way. Owen had relaxed once he knew she couldn't read his thoughts.

Once Jack was made aware of her talent he had decided that she would be an asset to Torchwood and had offered her a job working alongside his team to monitor the rift that had brought her to this place and to help take care of anything that came through the rift in a similar manner.

One such thing that had come through the rift was a strange glove made of metal, along with a fierce looking blade of the same material. The team had fished them out of the Wharf a few weeks prior and where now attempting to perfect how it worked. They had discovered that the glove had the power to temporarily resurrect. However, it only seemed to work correctly for one team member, Suzie Costello. Recently, they had been using the glove to temporarily revive murder victims in order to further research the glove's power.

Currently, the Torchwood team was surrounding the third murder victim. Tosh was setting up monitoring equipment as Suzie prepared herself to use the glove on the victim. Lilith stood next to Jack, shivering slightly in the rain despite her warm coat, still adjusting to the cooler temperatures of Cardiff.

"There you go, I can taste it," said Jack. "Oestrogen. Definitely oestrogen. "You take the pill, flush it away, it enters the water cycle, feminises the fish. Then it goes all the way up into the sky and falls back down on me. Contraceptives in the rain – I love this planet! Still," he added, winking at Lilith. "At least I won't get pregnant. Never doing that again!"

Lilith snorted a laugh and Jack grinned, nudging her slightly. She looked back at Suzie, who was putting the glove on. "How's it going?" she asked.

"Nothing yet," Suzie replied. "I've got to connect, I've just got to feel it."

"Then hurry up and feel it!" Owen snapped, rubbing his hands together. "I'm freezing my arse off."

"I can't just flip a switch. It's more like access, it grants me access."

"Whatever that means," Owen muttered.

Lilith sighed. She hated this; the glove freaked her out. She didn't like the idea of disturbing someone's afterlife for a few minutes of research. In Lilith's opinion they should have locked the glove away the moment they knew what it could do.

"It's like – oh, oh, oh!" Suzie gasped.

"Positions!" Jack ordered. He took a slight step forward, partially in front of Lilith. He knew she was wary of the glove and she didn't like watching the dead jolt back into life.

"If I get punched again I'm punching it right back," Owen snarked, and Lilith smirked a bit.

"Just concentrate," Jack told him. "Suzie?"

Suzie nodded, resting her gloved hand against the dead man's head. The rain slowed down, the lights that Tosh had set up glowing brighter as the man gasped back to life. Lilith took a wary step closer to Jack.

The man look around, panicking. "There was… What was…? I was… Oh, my God, I was going home!"

Tosh crouched next to him. "Listen to me," she said quickly. "We've only ot two minutes, so it's important that you listen, okay?"

"Who are you?"

"Trust me. You're dead," she told him bluntly. Lilith grimaced.

The man just looked at Tosh, confused. "How can I be dead?"

"You were stabbed," Owen told him.

"I'm not dead, I can see you!"

"We've brought you back but we haven't got long," Tosh explained. "I'm sorry, but you've got to concentrate. Who did this to you? What did you see?"

"Why am I dead?"

"Who attacked you?"

"I don't want to be dead!" the man sobbed, starting to get hysterical.

Lilith sighed sadly, and looked away. Movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention and she glanced up. A police officer was leaning over the wall above them, watching.

"Sixty seconds!" Suzie's warning brought her attention back to the dead man.

"You've got to think," Tosh pressed. "Just focus on me. What was the last thing you saw?"

"I didn't see any…" he floundered. "I don't know!"

"Who killed you? Did you see them?"

"I don't know! There was someone behind me."

"Police said stab wound in the back," Owen confirmed.

"So, you didn't see anything?" Tosh asked.

"No!"

The group looked at Jack, unsure what to do now.

"What happens now?" the man asked.

"Thirty seconds," Suzie warned.

"But he didn't see anyone," Tosh said.

"Don't waste it!" Suzie snapped at her.

"What else do I say?"

Jack moved to kneel next to man. "What's your name?"

"John. John Tucker."

"Okay, John," Jack said gently. "Not long now."

"Who are you?"

"Captain Jack Harkness," he said. "Tell me, what was it like when you died? What did you see?" John looked confused, not speaking as he thought. "John, tell me what you saw!"

"Ten seconds," said Suzie.

"Nothing," John sobbed. "I saw nothing! Oh, my God, there's nothing!"

The lights faded, the rain pouring on them once again, as John's face relaxed and his head fell back. He was dead once more.

"Shit," said Owen. "I said it was stupid, telling him he was dead."

"Well, you try it," Tosh said as she stood up.

"We told the last corpse he was injured, he spent the whole time screaming for an ambulance," Lilith reminded.

"Maybe there's no right way of doing it," Jack said thoughtfully. Suddenly, he looked up, shouting, "What do you think?"

Lilith looked up to see the police woman duck back from the edge.

"Great," said Owen. "Was she there the whole bloody time?"

"Ah, it's fine," Jack smirked. "She's just curious."

"Nobody was supposed to see this, Jack," Lilith said softly.

Jack looked at her, smiling slightly. "Who's she gonna tell? Nobody will believe her."

Lilith nodded. "I suppose. Come on, we should let the police get on with it now. There's nothing more we can do here."

Jack nodded. "Right. Let's pack this all up and get back. Lilith is starting to look like an ice cube."

"Hey!" she protested, as Owen snorted. "It's not my fault Cardiff's freezing!"

"Come on, you," Jack said, swinging an arm around her shoulder. "Let's get you back and get some coffee into you."

Lilith hummed in agreement. That was one thing she enjoyed about Earth: the coffee. Specifically, Ianto's coffee. She had no idea what he did to it but his coffee tasted so much better than any other she'd tasted. Lilith quickly got to work helping Tosh pack up some equipment, dreaming about the coffee, and likely pizza, that Ianto would have waiting for them back at the Hub.

Lilith dashed through the main entrance of the hospital after Jack, following him through the corridors. They rushed around a corner and up a flight of stairs.

"Jack, we have to seal this off!" Lilith said. "We can't have staff or patients wandering up here, not with a Weevil on the loose!"

Jack stopped and turned, sprinting back down the stairs. "Catch up with the others! I'll be back! Seal off that corridor, try and contain it!"

Lilith carried on down the corridor to where she knew Tosh and Suzie where waiting. "Jack says seal off this corridor, try and contain the Weevil. Where's Owen?"

"Round the corner," Suzie told her. "He's keeping an eye out."

Tosh quickly pulled some plastic sheets from her case, along with some tape. "Here, we can tape this over the doorway. Hopefully that will deter anyone from coming through here."

As soon as the door was blocked off, the three women turned to see Owen running back towards them. "It's coming!"

They quickly moved out so that they would be out of the Weevil's sight when it came down the corridor. Jack burst through the doorway just in time to get out of its view as it came around the corner.

"What the hell's it doing?" Owen asked through the comms. Lilith peeked out of the doorway she was hiding in to see the Weevil just standing at the end of the corridor.

However, before any of them could move, someone pushed the plastic sheeting aside and entered the corridor. "Hello? Sorry, I'm just looking for someone."

Lilith held her breath, waiting for the Weevil to attack the woman but it just stood there. She could hear the woman walking closer.

"Yeah, right. Clever." She'd clearly noticed the Weevil didn't look like a normal human. "Anyway I dunno if you've seen a man come through here, a tall man in one of those big sort of military coats." She took another few steps. "Okay, if you could answer, this is official business." The Weevil didn't move. "That's good. That's a good mask sort of thing. Look, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something but I think we can stop this now. It's all very well playing silly buggers but I'm busy, alright? Now I'm looking for a man in a big grey coat… I said we can stop being silly!"

The Weevil just gave a slight growl as another person entered the corridor. "Ah, there you are!" the man, a porter, said. "I did ask, I saw Doctor Mahieb cos I thought it was him said about the police, but he said no and then I said about the chemicals and said 'don't be so stupid, what chemicals?' So, I dunno, could be anything. You alright?"

"Yeah," the officer said, distractedly.

The porter then noticed they weren't alone. "Bloody hell, that is brilliant! That's like, erm, Hellraiser! That's first class that is." He moved closer to the Weevil, gesturing at the teeth. "Look at that, it's just like real teeth."

Suddenly, the Weevil lunged. It grabbed the porter's hand and pulled him forward, biting into the man's throat. Blood spurted all over the place.

"Now!" Jack said over the comms.

Lilith moved out of her doorway, rushing forward with Owen, Tosh and Suzie to detain the Weevil. Jack, meanwhile, grabbed the officer and pushed her back through the door. "Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!" he yelled at her.

The Weevil slipped its arm out of Suzie's grip, managing to grab hold of Lilith's arm.

"Shit," she gasped. It pulled her forward, raising her arm. Its teeth had just scraped the skin when it was suddenly sprayed in the face with a liquid. The Weevil dropped to the ground, letting go of Lilith's arm. As Tosh and Suzie moved to detain the Weevil, Lilith turned to see Owen holding a can of Weevil spray. "Thanks," she huffed, gripping her arm. Purple drops of blood sripping slightly down her wrist.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a scrape," she said. "You can look at it later."

Lilith was sat on Owen's autopsy table as he finished up bandaging her arm. Jack and Suzie were standing on the ledge above them, the Captain leaning on the railing as he watched.

"Lilith, I am so sorry," said Suzie. "I didn't mean to let it go, it just pulled! I'm so sorry!"

"Suzie, it's fine," she smiled. "It's nothing Owen can't deal with."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jack asked her. She looked at him and nodded as Ianto appeared next to him.

"Coffee, Lily?" he asked her.

"Yes, please," she sighed happily. "If you don't mind."

"Course not." Ianto smiled at her and disappeared again.

"Jack!" Tosh called from her station. "We might have a problem."

Jack frowned, heading over to Tosh, the other three following curiously. "What is it?"

"It's that police officer again." Tosh enlarged the CCTV on her screen. Sure enough, the police woman from the hospital and the murder scene was wandering back and forth in front of the Millennium Square fountain. She was right in front of the lift that the team had used to escape her earlier.

"Keep an eye on her," Jack said. "In the meantime, we'll get back to work."

Lilith sat at her work station to fill out a report of Weevil incident. Ianto set a cup of hot coffee on her desk a moment later. "Just the way you like it," he murmured.

"Thank you," she smiled. Ianto returned it softly before turning to hand out the other drinks he'd made.

A few hours later, Lilith had just finished her report of the day when Tosh spoke. "What is she doing?"

Glancing up as the others gathered around, Lilith saw the officer was still on the CCTV. This time she wasn't wandering aimlessly, though. Now, she strode along the bay carrying two pizza boxes.

"Good idea," remarked Jack.

"What do we do?" asked Tosh.

Jack smirked. "Play it cool."

Lilith, Owen and Tosh all sat at their work stations, looking as serious as possible. Suzie was at her own station, welding something together. The police officer slowly entered the room through the cog door, glancing around warily. The door shuts behind her and she takes another slow step. Above them, Jack walked across the balcony and down the stairs to his office. As the woman slowly approached, Owen suddenly giggled before it turned into a full laugh. Tosh laughed next, followed by Lilith who grinned as she turned in her chair to face the officer.

"I can't do this, I'm sorry," laughed Owen. "I'm rubbish. I give up."

Tosh pointed to him. "He set me off."

Suzie lifted her mask, turning of the welder. "Well, that lasted nought point two seconds."

"Mmm, she's actually carrying pizza," said Owen, amused.

"Come on," Jack smirked, coming out of his office. "She was gonna say here's your pizza and I was gonna say how much, and she says oh, whatever, twenty quid, and I say oh, I don't have any money. I was working on a punchline. I'd have got there, it would have been good." He leaned against the wall, looking at the woman.

"There's your pizza, I think I'd better go," she said.

"I think we've gone past that stage," Jack said seriously.

"You must have been freezing out there," Lilith said. "How long were you walking around, three hours?"

"You could see me?"

"Yep."

"And before we go any further," said Jack. "Who the hell orders pizza under the name of Torchwood?"

Owen raised his hand slightly. "Er, yeah, that would be me. I'm a twat."

"That man at the hospital," the woman said. "That porter, what happened to him? That was real wasn't it? He was attacked?"

"He's dead," Jack told her.

"But there's no one gone missing."

Tosh said, "I took the body, retrospectively changed the work rota. Planted a false witness who saw him leaving the hospital, giving him an alibi for the next forty eight hours so that when his body is pulled out of the docks next Tuesday night he's only been missing for three days."

"He was murdered."

"Yeah."

"And you covered it up?"

"It's my job," Tosh said bluntly.

"And that other man," she said to Jack. "John Tucker. Last night in the alleyway, I saw you…"

"What did you see?" Jack asked.

"You revived him."

"No. What did you see?"

"You resuscitated him."

"No. What did you _see_?"

She hesitated. "You brought him back to life."

"Yeah."

"Who are you?"

"Torchwood," Jack said, dramatically. Lilith smirked slightly.

"What's Torchwood?"

"This is Torchwood," he told her. "All around you."

"And what happens to me?"

"Ohh," he teased, but she took him seriously.

"I'm police! Constable Gwen Cooper. You can't do anything!"

Jack straightened. "Alright, PC Cooper. Do you want to come see?"

"See what?"

"You saw the murder… Come and see the murderer," he offered. Jack walked away and Gwen hesitated to follow.

"Go with him," Suzie told her.

Gwen hesitantly placed the pizza down and followed Jack. "What is Torchwood? Who are you? What is this place?" There was a loud screech from above and Gwen instinctively ducked. Looking up, she gaped a bit. "What was that?"

"Pterodactyl," Lilith said casually.

"Are you coming?" Jack called. Gwen hurried after him.

Not long after, Jack led Gwen back into the main area of the Hub. The woman looked a little pale after seeing a Weevil up close, but appeared to be taking it all in her stride as Jack started making introductions.

"Owen Harper, Gwen Cooper," he introduced.

"_Doctor_ Owen Harper, thank you."

Jack carried on, ignoring him. "Toshiko Sato, computer genius. Lilith Darrei, resident alien expert. Suzie Costello, she's second in command. And this Ianto Jones. He cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time.

"I try my best," Ianto said modestly.

Jack grinned. "And he looks good in a suit."

"Careful," Ianto smirked. "That's harassment, sir."

"But why are you telling me their names?" Gwen asked. "I'm not supposed to know, am I? This is classified, isn't it?"

"Way beyond classified," Jack replied.

"Then you shouldn't be telling me. What are you going to do to me?"

"What do you imagine?" he wondered.

"Well, I've seen too much. Your names and everything… and the Weevil… you can dump a man in the water and lie about his death…"

"Okay," Jack said. He grabbed his greatcoat. "Tosh, finish that calibration tomorrow morning. Owen, first thing, get hold of Chandler and Belle because I think they're lying. Ianto, if he needs back up then you'd better be on stand by. Suzie, I know it's a pain in the ass but I need the costing on the glove research. Lilith, you can finish up the Weevil reports tomorrow, go home and rest that arm." He turned to Gwen. "As for you, you're coming with me."

Jack walked away, towards the lift, expecting Gwen to follow again.

She did, protesting slightly, as the team packed up to leave. "I'm getting tired of following you."

"No, you're not. And you never will," Jack said. He stepped onto the stone platform. "Stand on here, come on, with me."

He held out his hand, helping Gwen onto the platform.

"Goodnight!" Tosh called.

"Laters!" said Owen.

"Now, you came in the front door. Let's take the scenic route." Jack pressed a button on his wrist strap, causing the ceiling to open above them. The platform starts to move up and Gwen grabs Jack's arm to steady herself. Suzie waves as the platform rises.

Lilith knew Ianto would be waiting around at the Hub until Jack had finished with Gwen. She knew Jack would be taking the woman for a drink, only to slip her some retcon and erase her memory of Torchwood.

Lilith grabbed the pizza boxes that Gwen had left and made herself comfortable on the sofa.

"You're not going home," Ianto asked.

"I know you're monitoring Gwen's electronics," she said as she opened the first pizza box to find a ham and mushroom pizza, her favourite. "Who knows how long it will be before Jack sends her home. She seems the type to keep asking questions. It might take a while for her to finish her drink. I thought I'd keep you company."

"Thank you," said Ianto. He sat next to her, picking up the other pizza box. They sat quietly, eating pizza and just enjoying each other's company until an alarm went off. Ianto quickly dropped his pizza, moving to one of the computers.

"Gwen," she asked.

"Yep," he said. "She's trying to leave herself a note to remind her."

Lilith stood and made her way over to Ianto, standing behind his chair, on hand resting on his shoulder as they watched Gwen's notes appear on the screen. Two minutes later her typing had stopped and they knew that the sedative in the retcon had finally taken hold of her. Ianto highlighted the entire page, deleting it quickly and leaving behind no trace of Torchwood for Gwen Cooper to remember.

"Shall we go?" he asked Lilith, shutting the computer down.

"Yep."

Lilith grabbed her bag and headed towards the cog door, where Ianto was waiting for her.

"Do you want a lift?" he asked.

"Yes, please," she replied. "That would be great."

"Come on, then." Ianto smiled and offered his arm to her. Lilith linked her arm with his, smiling slightly. "Let's get you home."

The Hub went dark as the cog door shut behind them.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood. I only own Lilith, her planet/species and her story.

Enjoy!

**Chapter Two**

The next evening, Lilith was the last, besides Jack, to leave the Hub. The day had been a long one, with another Weevil sighting, though fortunately no fatalities this time. She sighed, closing down her computer.

"Goodnight, Jack," she called, heading for the cog door. She could see him sitting in his office, concentrating on something she couldn't see.

"Night, Lily!" he waved. She rolled her eyes at the nickname.

Heading out of the door, Lilith walked up the corridor and left the Hub through the tourist centre entrance. She shivered, pulling her coat tighter. Walking a few steps past the tourist centre, a sharp movement caught her attention.

Standing in front of the fountain were two figures. Moving closer, Lilith recognised them to be Suzie and Gwen. She frowned, wondering what Gwen was doing there when she shouldn't remember anything about Torchwood. How had she found Suzie?

Suzie suddenly dropped her bag and Lilith gasped seeing her hold a gun up to Gwen. She dropped her own bag and sprinted over to the two.

"Suzie!" she shouted. "What the hell are you doing?"

Lilith came to stop next to Gwen, holding her hands out calmly.

"She's the only one who can make the link!" Suzie exclaimed. "The only one in public, anyway. Torchwood's gonna find out by morning, but I'll be gone. I don't know where, far away. But you had to get involved, Lilith! Now, I'll have to kill you too! What am I going to do? I loved this job, I really loved it, and now I've got to run. Oh, Christ! How can you do any other job after this?"

"Please, just put down the gun!" Gwen begged.

Lilith carefully gripped Gwen's wrist and slowly moved so that she was standing mostly in front of the other woman. "Suzie, you don't have to do this. Just put the gun down and come inside. We can talk about this."

But Suzie wasn't listening. "It gets inside you, you do this job for long enough, and you end up thinking… how come we get all the… the Weevils and bollocks and shit? Is that what alien life is, filth? Then maybe there's better stuff out there, brilliant stuff, beautiful stuff. Just… but they don't come here! This planet's so dirty, that's all we get, the shit!"

"No Suzie," Lilith said. "Earth can be beautiful. Humanity is so bright and amazing, just so full of hope! Other worlds just don't know it yet."

"Bullshit!" Suzie snapped. "Don't tell me you wouldn't go back to your own planet if you could!"

"I miss home," she admitted. "But Earth is home now, it has to be. Suzie, just calm down, you don't need to do this!"

"What are you talking about?" Gwen cried.

Suzie looked at her. "I wish I could forget."

"Why did you kill those people?"

Lilith's mouth dropped slightly in shock. Suzie was the murderer?

"For the glove." Suzie took a step forward and Lilith pushed Gwen back a bit.

"Stay where you are," said Gwen.

"I needed the bodies, that's how it works, violent death. It was so easy, to bring them back. I just positioned myself behind the head so they never see me twice."

"You killed three people?" Lilith asked, disgusted.

"It was the only way! The more I use the glove, the more I control it…"

"What glove?" Gwen demanded. "I don't understand what glove? Where have I seen you before?"

Suzie was focused on Lilith, trying to make her understand. "If I can get enough practice then think what I could do. If I could get it to work all the time, on anything, beyond the two minutes… if I could get it to work permanently, it could resurrect! Resurrection on demand for the whole world, isn't that good?"

"No," said Lilith. "Everything ends eventually, Suzie. We aren't meant to have that power."

"Well, that's what I've been working for," said Suzie. "All day, all night. The rest of you go swanning about while I'm working. You've gotta get inside this stuff, surrender yourself to it. I did with the knife and the glove… and that's why the perception filter isn't going to work on me!"

Suzie turned and fired the gun, Jack's body falling to the ground, visible now he was off the lift.

Lilith jumped and Gwen gasped. "What? Who is he? Where did he come from? What have you done?"

Suzie just turned and aimed the gun back at them, though if she fired she would hit Lilith as she stood in front of Gwen. She cocked the gun.

"Please don't," begged Gwen.

"I can't let you go." Suzie stepped over Jack's body.

"Please!"

"I've got to."

Gwen started sobbing, her hands clutching her hair. Lilith took another step back and then froze as Jack stood up behind Suzie. As she watched, the bullet hole in his forehead healed itself.

"Put down the gun," he ordered. Suzie turned to look at him. Jack offered her his hand. "Suzie, it's over now. Come with me."

It was silent for a moment. Suzie glanced at Lilith and Gwen and then suddenly put the gun under her chin. She pulled the trigger and collapsed, a spray of blood behind her as she dropped, instantly dead.

Lilith stood there, shaking, as she looked from Suzie's body to Jack. He looked back at her sadly. Their attention was quickly drawn behind Lilith to Gwen as she spoke.

"I… remember. I remember."

Later that night, Lilith stood in Jack's office watching solemnly as Ianto put the glove and the knife into a secure box labelled 'not for use', placing the box in Jack's safe. Owen and Tosh put the alien devices they had taken home onto Jack's desk. They left quickly, not wanting to face anymore of Jack's wrath that night. He had been furious about them taking things home for their own use.

Lilith sighed and sat in Jack's chair.

"Are you alright?" Ianto asked quietly.

"I don't know," she said. "Suzie was our friend. I never thought she'd do anything like this. Then to see her pointing that gun at me, at Gwen…"

Ianto moved beside her. Crouching down, he placed a gentle hand on her knee. "Suzie was corrupted by the glove. She wasn't really herself anymore, I don't think."

"That glove is dangerous," Lilith said tearfully. "We should have locked it away ages ago, as soon as we knew what it could do."

"I know," he said. "Jack knows that now, too."

Lilith wiped her tears away with the edge of her sleeve, still wrapped in her coat. "I want to go home."

"Of course." Ianto stood and offered her his hand. She took it and let him pull her to her feet.

"Not just yet." They turned to see Jack standing in the doorway. "I want you to come with me first. Don't worry, Ianto, I'll make sure she gets home."

"Of course, sir." Ianto gently squeezed Lilith's hand and left the office.

"What are we doing?" she asked.

Jack offered her his arm, waiting until she took it, before leading her out of the Hub. "We're going to talk to Gwen."

Jack, Lilith and Gwen stood on the roof of the Millennium Centre. Dawn was starting to break as they looked out over the city of Cardiff.

"Owen and Toshiko," Gwen started. "You didn't tell them that you were shot in the head and survived."

"You didn't tell them either," said Jack. "Followed my lead. Keep doing that and you might just get through this."

"But she killed you."

"I can't die."

"Okay."

"But I can't," Jack said firmly. "Something happened to me a while back, long story and far away. But I was killed and then I was brought back and ever since then I can't die."

"But how?" asked Gwen.

"I dunno. But one day I'll find a doctor, the right sort of doctor, and maybe he can explain it. Until then…"

"Nothing kills you?"

"Well, kinda freaks people out so best if you don't say anything."

"It doesn't matter anyway," Gwen muttered. "You'll only wipe my memory again."

"Why would I do that?" Gwen looked at him as he watched her pointedly. "Torchwood's got a vacancy, job going spare. Do you want it?"

"But… What do you need me for?"

Jack sighed. "Because maybe you were right, we could do more to help. What do you think? Wanna join up?"

"Yeah." Gwen turned to gaze out at the city as Jack smiled slightly. "I do, yes." She suddenly frowned and turned back to look at Lilith.

"Lilith... All that stuff that Suzie said about you being from another planet…"

"It's true," Lilith told her.

Gwen blinked at her in shock. "You're an alien?"

Lilith smiled. "Well, technically, I think you're the aliens, but yes. I am. You okay with that?"

"I think so, yeah. Do the others know?"

"Yeah," Lilith sighed. "I've only been here, on Earth, for a few months. I fell through the rift and I can't get home."

"I'm sorry," Gwen apologised. "But…"

"What?"

"You look human. Except your eyes, they're purple. I've never seen anyone with purple eyes before."

"She might look human, but she's not," said Jack. "She's from a planet called Alyria. Alyrian biology isn't too different from a human's, but there are a few differences. They all have purple eyes and purple blood, for one thing."

"Purple blood?" Gwen gaped. "That's… so strange."

"I'm also mildly telepathic," Lilith explained. "But don't worry, I can't really read your mind."

"What can you do?"

"I can communicate through my thoughts if I'm familiar enough with someone. I can shield my own mind from intrusion, too."

"That is…" Gwen trailed off, not knowing what to say.

They were silent for a moment, letting Gwen absorb her new knowledge.

"So, what now?" she asked.

"Now," said Jack. "You go home. Enjoy your weekend, relax. We'll see you on Monday."

Jack put an arm around Lilith's shoulders, leading her away from Gwen. Neither of them spoke until they were walking along the bay.

"You alright?" Jack asked.

"I don't know," she said. "But I think I will be."

"Good."

"Listen, Jack," she took a deep breath. "I won't say anything to others about you. But, if you ever want to talk about it, I'm a really good listener."

"Thanks," Jack smiled. "So, earlier, was I interrupting anything?"

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you and Ianto were looking pretty cosy," he teased.

"Shut up!"

Lilith was half asleep at her work station when an alarm rang throughout the Hub. She jolted up in her chair and spun to face Tosh. "What is it?"

"Some sort of meteorite," Tosh said.

"Random space debris?" Owen asked.

"We can't take that chance," Jack said above them. "We need to check it out. Ianto, text Gwen, let her know we need her. Her first day starts now, not tomorrow."

"Yes, sir." Ianto nodded.

"The rest of you, grab your equipment and let's go."

Ten minutes later, Lilith was sitting in the back of the SUV between Gwen and Tosh as Owen drove like a maniac towards the scene of the meteorite crash.

"Simple locate and clean up operation," Jack said from the passenger seat. "Find that meteorite before anyone else gets their hands on it." He turned to look at Gwen. "Good to see you by the way."

Tosh folded a screen and keyboard down in front of her. "Tosh, you found it yet?" asked Owen.

"You got enough kit?" Gwen asked, looking around the SUV at all the equipment.

"Basic tracking and surveillance for the crash site," Toshiko explained. "With this we can tap into CCTV networks, social databases…"

Gwen leaned across to look at the screen. "Is this Crimint? This is the police computer, you shouldn't have this!"

"You might wanna stop saying 'you' and start saying 'we'," Jack told her.

"Crash site is one hundred metres ahead," Tosh said to Owen.

Owen pulled into a cleared space in a wooded area. "Shit! The amateurs got here first."

Lilith leaned forward to see soldiers patrolling the area, a base set up behind them.

The group got out of the SUV, dragging cases of equipment with them.

"Alright, usual formation." Jack started towards one of the tents, the rest following.

"What's the usual formation?" Gwen asked.

"Varies," Owen said shortly.

"How can a usual formation vary?"

"Don't worry," said Lilith. "You get used to it."

Gwen nodded. "Oh!" She turned and ran back to the SUV to grab her forgotten bag. She headed back to the tent to see Lilith waiting for her.

"Come on," said Lilith. They entered the tent to see that the others had already gone through to the crash site.

"Who the hell are you?" a soldier demanded. "This area's restricted."

"No, it's alright," said Gwen hurriedly. "We're with special ops, Torchwood. We're with Torchwood."

"Don't mess with me, little girl," the sergeant sneered. "You're not with Torchwood, and even if you were-"

"You'd have put out the welcome banner," Jack interrupted from the back of the tent. He'd come back for them. "Now, first of all, she's no little girl. From where I'm standing, all the right curves in all the right places. But she is Torchwood, we all are, and we'd appreciate it if you'd leave us to do the real work." He took one of the two cases that Lilith was carrying and held out his free hand to her. "Shall we?"

Lilith took his hand and they left through the back of the tent, Gwen following.

"Let's see what we came for," Jack said as they approached the crash site.

"Bog standard space debris," Owen determined. "That's a technical term."

"Yeah, thanks," Gwen snarked.

"So, take all the readings and let's get out of here," Jack instructed.

Lilith let go of Jack's hand to set her case down and opened it to toss some tools to Owen.

"Make yourself useful, sweetheart," he said to Gwen, who was just stood watching the others. "Pass us the big chisel from the toolbox."

"Not sweetheart; Gwen," she snapped back. "One syllable, sure you can manage it."

Owen smirked. "Not sweetcheeks, freckles, new girl?"

Gwen picked up a chisel from the case Lilith had set out. "It's a shame your tool's not big enough for the job, _darling_. Catch."

Lilith giggled at Gwen's barb to Owen before she noticed what the ex-officer was about to do. "Gwen, don't-"

But it was too late. Gwen had thrown the chisel towards Owen, but her aim was off. Instead of heading the doctor, the chisel lodged itself into the side of the meteor. The gash it caused glowed blue slightly before a pink gas began to flow from it.

"Shit!" Owen swore.

Jack moved instantly, throwing masks to each of them, placing one over Gwen's face and then his own. Lilith quickly covered her mouth and nose with the mask, watching as the gas rose up into the air and floated off, out of sight.


End file.
